The executives had spent years cultivating Ariel, Elsa and Snow White as highly profitable models of femininity. The footage they saw, from this month’s animated feature “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” revealed the princesses as everyday young women, on break from their jobs as Disney royalty.

Elsa and Sleeping Beauty have their hair down and wear pajamas. Snow White shows off her Coke-bottle glasses. Cinderella shatters her glass slipper and thrusts it forward like a broken bottle at a girl who walks into the room. Rapunzel asks her, “Do people assume all your problems get solved because a big, strong man showed up?”

Disney's new movie ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ depicts the princesses as normal young women.
Photo:
Disney

“Everyone audibly gasped,” according to a person present. In their eyes, the scene broke all of the Disney rules that had built the princesses into a lucrative brand.

For nearly 20 years, Disney employees have debated how far the company should go in updating its heroines for the modern age. The crux: How do you keep princesses relevant without alienating fans who hold fast to the versions they grew up with? Billions of dollars of revenue—dolls, sequels, stage shows and dresses—hang on getting that balance right.

Since “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1937, the princess characters have trained generations of young moviegoers on men, women, relationships and love. The franchise, especially its older films, has been criticized for promoting outdated notions of femininity and damsel-in-distress narratives in which only a man can save the day.

Parents are wrestling with the messages the stories send their children—is it acceptable for the prince to kiss Sleeping Beauty, given she’s sleeping? The tension has grown more pronounced in an era of female presidential candidates, women’s marches and #MeToo.

Disney develops and manages characters such as Mulan or Rapunzel similar to the way
Apple Inc.
handles new iPhone models, with a secretive process that allows the princesses to debut in public fully formed. Interviews with nearly two dozen current and former employees working across Disney’s sprawling princess operations reveal a perennial push-and-pull over getting the mix of tradition and modernity right, from producing remakes and merchandise built around longtime characters to introducing new characters.

“They’ve tried to make the princesses more independent and to have more of a voice, but at the same time there’s a recognition that there’s also an appeal—even if it’s not as modern—to pretty dresses and beautiful castles,” said one former Disney executive.

Disney declined to make executives available for an interview.

More than 80 years after “Snow White” hit theaters, Disney still sells figurines, Grumpy costumes and themed Play-Doh sets. “Frozen” has become one of Disney’s greatest hits, spawning a sequel, a Broadway adaptation and countless “Let It Go” downloads since it hit theaters five years ago. The live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” collected $1.26 billion at the global box office in 2017.

Skillful or Beautiful?

In a 2016 study on the portrayal of Disney princesses and heroines in the movies, researchers analyzed the scripts, breaking down compliments toward female characters into different categories* — including those received for appearance and for skill.